


The Walls, The Weak & The Wings

by unofficialNEET



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-31 04:05:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6454969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unofficialNEET/pseuds/unofficialNEET
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Eren is an art major that paints from his dreams and discovers an author that seems to be writing from them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It started with nightmares – the unpredictable kind, the ones without any real-world foundation. That’s what he thought, anyway. They didn’t come every night; perhaps once a month or so when he was younger, but as he got older they became more frequent. He didn’t know exactly when they started, but he guessed that he’d been having them his entire life. It wasn’t until he was in high school, however, that he realized that all of these nightmares were the same in a sense. They fit together like pieces of a puzzle, weaving together a shattered storyline that was hard to wrap his head around. Each dream involved the same monsters, the same walls, and the same people. It was also around that time that he began to keep them to himself. He no longer woke up in the middle of the night screaming; it was as if he’d grown used to the often-gruesome scenes. And so he no longer discussed them with his parents. He’d suspected that they were getting concerned about him, anyways, and the last thing he wanted to do was go and talk to a therapist about his dreams.

He’d always loved drawing and coloring as a kid, but it wasn’t until he started trying to sketch the monsters in his head that he (and those around him) realized his true talent. By his junior year of high school he had exhausted all of the art class options at his school and began taking summer courses at the local community college. After he graduated high school, he enrolled as a studio art major at Rose University.

And that’s where he now stood, in a studio on the third floor of Rose’s designated art building, Sina hall, standing back and assessing the large canvas that he’d spent the last month applying layers upon layers of paint onto. This was going to be his first time ever showing his artwork to anyone but his teachers, family and friends. He was planning on entering this particular piece in the school’s upcoming Spring Art Expo, meaning that it had to be absolutely flawless. And it would be, Eren assured himself. Just a little bit more of a highlight here, deepen the shadow there…

“Eren!” Armin was lucky that he had startled him when he had. If it had been even a moment later, Eren’s brush would’ve been too close to the canvas to avoid hitting it when he jumped at the sound of his name.

“Fuck, Armin! What have I told you about surprising me when I’m working?” He exclaimed, taking a few deep breaths to calm his racing heart and slightly shaking hands before reassuming his position, touching the tip of his brush ever so lightly to the canvas.

“Sorry, Eren,” Armin sighed. “I just wanted to know if you were going to join us for drinks tonight. I figured that you were up here working, so you probably haven’t checked your phone…”

“I haven’t,” Eren replied, pulling his brush away and taking a step back to look at his work. “

“Well, we’re all going to Sina at nine,” he informed him. “Oh! Is this your piece for the Expo?”

Eren nodded, eyes scanning the canvas for any other imperfections that needed to be fixed. He was particularly proud of this piece, of how precisely he had replicated a scene from one particular dream. A man with dark hair styled in an undercut stood with his back to the viewer, short forest-green cloak blown out behind him. There were dual blades in his hand, far boxier than any swords in the history books and connected to some contraption around the man’s waist. It was hidden by the cloak, but Eren knew it was there; ‘3-D Maneuver Gear’, that’s what the people in his dreams had called it, used gas, wire and grappling hooks to allow them to fly through the air like a rock launched from a sling-shot. The man stood on a smooth, grey stone surface that Eren knew was one of the huge, towering walls from his dreams. He looked down upon a town in ruins, and standing in its center was one of the creatures that had haunted Eren for years – a Titan. This Titan was different from all of the rest, though; it was much, much bigger. It stood taller than the walls, but given its distance, its entire body fit in the frame. It stared at the viewer with a face that looked as if it’d been stripped of all of its flesh, leaving only muscles, tendon and bone behind. In fact, the Titan’s entire body looked like that; it was fleshless, gruesome and grotesque.

While Eren had spent hours detailing every exposed muscle on the Titan’s bulky frame, he’d spent days agonizing over every minute facet of the man. From the logo of two different colored wings crossing on the back of his flowing cloak to the sliver of his face that the viewer could see from that angle, Eren had made absolutely sure that it was perfect. That _he_ was perfect, exactly as he was in Eren’s dream.

Seeing people in his dreams was a funny thing. At first, he never remembered their names or faces in the mornings. But then, as he began school and started meeting new people, his new friends started popping up in his dreams and he could _remember_ them the next day. He could remember Jean crying over Marco late at night in the barracks. He could remember leaning over Armin’s shoulder to look at one particular page of a book covered with information about something called an ocean. He could remember wrapping a deep red scarf around Mikasa’s neck after rescuing her when they were nine. Eren wasn’t really sure what to think about the development; was his mind just inserting his friends into the storyline that he experienced every night or did they belong there?

But this man, he’d never met this man before. He didn’t know his name or the exact details of his face; he could identify blurred flashes and hazy snippets, maybe, but not his complete image. But he knew how to paint the curve of his jaw, the sharp point of his nose from this angle, the proper place for the shaved portion of his undercut to give way to the longer, silky strands.

Maybe this man, ‘Captain’ as Eren addressed him in his dreams, haunted him more than the ‘Colossal Titan’. Eren found himself thinking of the mysterious man often. His dream-self really admired this man when he was younger. But as he’d grown older, that admiration had turned into something deeper. The few naughtier dreams that he’d experienced had taught Eren the curves of his toned body, the feel of the man’s warm skin against his own, the exhilarating thrill of being pinned down to the hard mattress with the Captain working over him.

That was how Eren had discovered he was gay. He also suspected that this literal ‘man of his dreams’ was the reason that Eren’s love life was pretty much nonexistent. That’s not to say that Eren, being the vivacious twenty-one year-old guy that he was, hadn’t had his share of attempted relationships, but none of them ever really worked out. As silly as it sounds, there wasn’t anyone that compared to the Captain, even if he wasn’t real. He’d had a taste (albeit, imaginary) of something, and _someone_ , incredible, so it would be all the more painful if he settled for someone that didn’t even give him half of the indisputable love and unbridled, raw want – no, _need_ \- that emanated from the Captain whenever he was featured in Eren’s dreams.

Eren was so caught up in looking over the man’s figure that he almost forgot that Armin was standing behind him until he spoke up.

“It looks incredible, Eren,” Armin chirped. “Both beautiful and somewhat creepy, as always.”

Armin would find them creepy, Eren thought to himself. They weren’t constantly in the back of his mind.

“Thanks, Armin,” he smiled. “Just let me lock this baby up and we can head out.”

Since Eren usually worked on larger canvases, his Advanced Painting professor, Professor Shadis, had given him the key to a small, well-ventilated studio off of the main studio that classes met in. It was the perfect space for him to work with his oil paints in, and he didn’t have to worry about lugging huge canvases to the off-campus apartment that he shared with Armin. Most would say that Shadis’ class was the hardest course in Rose’s entire art department and they weren’t wrong. Shadis was a hard-ass, sure, but he was a skilled professor that gave necessary, honest criticism and appreciated hard work. Eren could definitely see in an improvement in his work over the last year or so, and he could honestly attribute most of it to Shadis’ direction and encouragement.

Once everything was secure and Eren had double-checked that the ventilation system in his own private little studio was set correctly, he and Armin made their way over to Sina’s Grill & Bar.

Sasha and Connie were seated at one of the high-top tables near the bar, already nursing drinks and munching on a plate of cheese-fries. Jean and Marco sat across from them, Marco leafing through a book while Jean listened to whatever he was saying, taking the occasional sip from his beer. Mikasa looked like she had just arrived, setting her bag and jacket down at a table near their friends and heading to the bar to grab a drink. He and Armin made a beeline for that table.

They’d just shrugged off their jackets and taken seats when Marco looked up and realized that they’d arrived.

“Eren!” Marco exclaimed, jumping up from his seat to step over to their table. “Did you know that you’re in a book?”

“What?”

“A book!” Marco repeated, throwing a worn hardback book onto the table. The glossy, laminated book jacket and sticker wrapped around the bottom of the spine told Eren that it had been checked out from a library. “You’re the main character.”

“Marco, it’s barely nine on a Thursday. You can’t possibly be that drunk already.”

“No, I’m serious,” he argued, flipping the book open to a dog-eared page. “The main character’s name is Eren Jaeger. His description is you to a T: blue-green eyes, 'sun-kissed skin', 'wild brown hair', 'lean but muscular frame', etc.”

“That’s not creepy at all,” Eren mused, a feeling of uneasiness settling in his stomach.

“You live in this world where humanity is trapped behind these walls because of these man-eating beasts called Titans that roam-“

“Back the fuck up,” Eren interrupted. “Did you just say _Titans_?”

“Walls? Titans? That sounds like your art, Eren,” Armin gasped.

“No shit,” Eren bit out.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen your art before,” Marco said. That’s right, Marco was new to Eren’s group of friends. He was a transfer student so he was new to Rose this year, but he’d just started dating Jean a few weeks before. So far he hadn’t shown up in any of Eren’s dreams. “But isn’t it strange? At first I thought it was a coincidence, but as I kept reading, I realized that it wasn’t. And it’s not just you, Eren – Armin, you’re in it, too. And Jean, Mikasa, Connie, Sasha… everyone, it feels like. Even I’m mentioned! I die pretty early on, though.”

There was a silence as both Armin and Eren soaked in this new information. Eren didn’t know what he was feeling. He’d never fully explained his dreams to anyone, not even the therapist that his parents had sent him to when he was younger. How was this even possible?

“What book is this?” Armin asked, breaking the silence.

“It’s called _The Walls_ by L. Ackerman,” Marco explained. “It’s the first book of the Attack on Titan Trilogy. It just came out a few weeks ago.”

“Ackerman? That’s Mikasa’s last name,” Eren realized, looking over to where Mikasa was chatting with Sasha, having returned from the bar with a Rum and Coke. Mikasa, in addition to having been one of his best friends since he was little, was one of the few people that he’d ever mentioned his dreams to. He’d never told her the full story or any of the haunting details, but still…

“Mikasa!” Armin called, waving her over.

“Mikasa, have you ever told anyone about my art?” Eren asked her before adding quietly, “Or my dreams?”

“You know I would never,” Mikasa replied. “I mean, my parents know that you’re an artist, but I don’t think that I’ve ever really talked to them about what you paint. Why?”

“Do you know the author of this book?” Armin questioned, handing her the copy. She looked at it quizzically, her dark eyes assessing the front cover.

“L. Ackerman? Nope. My dad is an only child and my grandparents are dead. If we’re related, it’s pretty distant. What’s the deal with this book?”

“You’re in it,” Marco piped up.

“ _What_?” She exclaimed, immediately flipping it open and skimming the pages.

“This is too much,” Eren said suddenly. He couldn’t sit around and drink and listen to Marco tell him about this book. He needed to read it. He needed to know how much of his dreams had been printed onto those pages. What if they were the same? What would it mean?

Neither Armin nor Mikasa had ever shown any glimmer of recognition upon seeing his artwork or hearing a snippet from one of his dreams, and he assumed that none of his other friends would know, either. The walls, the Titans – they were all in his head, right? So who the hell was L. Ackerman and how did he know what was inside Eren’s head? Hell, how did he know Eren and his friends at all?

Eren stood up, threw a ten-dollar bill at Armin to cover his drink and grabbed his coat from the back of his seat. There was a bookstore a couple blocks down that didn’t close until ten. He could make it.


	2. Chapter 2

Eren stayed up all night, finally closing the book as the sun began to rise. He’d reread the last page at least three times.

“If you don’t fight, you can’t win,” he whispered aloud. He knew that line. That was _his_ line, his motto of sorts. Well, his dream-self’s, anyway.

He shook his head. It was just so _weird_.

The author had just pieced his dreams together in a way that Eren had never been able. He wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t spent the past nine hours reading his own story. The worst part was that he had a feeling that he knew what would happen next; he had seen it in his dreams, surely, so all that was left was to figure out which piece was going to be placed next. It had ended on such a high note; they’d finally taken down the Female Titan! But that cliffhanger, the Titan in the wall? It felt so strange to know _why_. The back cover promoted the second book in the Trilogy, appropriately titled _The Weak_ , but it wasn’t due out for another year.

“What the _fuck_!” Eren yelled at nothing.

There had always been things that he hadn’t understood about his dreams. Sometimes things got really hazy. Sometimes his comrades would speak to him about “shifting”. Sometimes he just knew that he wasn’t human, that he was one of the creatures that he’d grown up fearing. Now, after reading this book, he felt like he understood everything, like he could see the entire picture.

Well, almost.

The Captain was still a mystery to him. While his friends had appeared in the exact roles that they’d played in his head, the Captain still felt out of reach. The Captain in this story wasn’t everything he remembered; there was no love between the two of them, no stolen kisses in empty corridors, no mornings greeted in each other’s arms. And his name… it wasn’t right. Close, maybe, but not right. On paper he was called Captain Rivaille, but Eren knew that wasn’t it.

He also didn’t understand why there was very little description of the man. There were so many details about Eren himself, so many little things that he barely even noticed when he looked in the mirror that this author deemed worthy to include. They even wrote of how Mikasa always wore her red scarf, of Sasha’s insatiable appetite, of Jean’s two-toned haircut… so why was the only information given about his Captain, ‘Humanity’s Strongest’, regarding his short stature and cold eyes? It was more disappointing than Eren cared to admit.

A knock on the door snapped him away from his thoughts, and after a moment Armin poked his head in and gazed at him with sleepy eyes. “Are you okay? I heard yelling…”

 “I’m fine,” Eren sighed, holding up _The Walls_ for Armin to see. “I finished the book.”

 “Oh? And how was it?”                                                                                            

“Exactly like my dreams,” he confessed. “I don’t know what to do, Armin.”

 “Sounds to me like you need to talk to them. The author, I mean. What does the back say about him? You know, the bio on the inside of the back cover?”

“Little to nothing. This is his first book. He’s working on the sequel. That’s all I know,” Eren shrugged.

Armin eyed his laptop, discarded on the floor by his bed. “Have you checked his website?”

“I didn’t even think about it,” he admitted. “Do you think that will help?”

“Maybe it’ll have his Twitter or a more detailed bio or something,” Armin offered, grabbing the laptop before sitting down next to Eren.

“Armin, go back to sleep. I’m sorry for waking you. We can check in the morning.” He felt really bad for waking Armin up at such an early hour. Just because Eren had managed to create a schedule without classes on Friday didn’t mean that all of his friends had been as lucky.

“It’s fine,” Armin replied, waving him off. “I’m curious now.”

Eren watched as Armin pulled up his search engine and typed in the book’s title and author’s name. There were several hits, and Eren scanned over them in awe. The book already had a fan site, a popular tag on Tumblr, and he caught a glimpse of some fan art in the image section before Armin clicked on L. Ackerman’s official website.

The design was minimalistic; everything was in shades of grey. There was no more information on the ‘about’ section of his website than in the back of his book. There was, however, a section that caught their eye. It was titled ‘events’, and there was only one entry on the calendar: a signing at a bookstore in New York City a week away.

“There,” Armin grinned. “You have to go.”

New York City was only about an hour away from where Rose University was located, just outside of Maria, Connecticut. In addition, the signing was on a Saturday so maybe he could drag one of his friends along with him.

He looked over at Armin. “You have to come with me. Please, Armin? I’d drag Mikasa along but I feel like she’d go into protective mode and strangle the guy for answers.”

His friend smiled and gave a sharp nod. “Sure. Let’s check and see if we need to grab any tickets?”

Armin navigated the website until he somehow ended up on the site of the bookstore where the signing was being held. The information on there told them that they could either swing by the store the day before and grab tickets, hope that there were some left the day of, or pay a small fee and secure their places online. Eren whipped out his wallet pretty quickly and paid for two tickets before sending Armin back off to bed.

A week. In a week, he’d be face to face with the author that had somehow managed to get inside his head. He needed answers and he really hoped that L. Ackerman would be able to give them to him.


	3. Chapter 3

“You have a signing from two to five on Saturday down at Garrison Books,” Erwin reminded him. “And Mike is expecting the second draft of _The Weak_ to be on his desk on Monday.”

“Four-eyes will have it printed and in his office by Saturday night,” Levi replied. “It’s done.” The third book was done, too. He’d written the entire trilogy before he even considered having it published, but his publishers had decided it would be better to have the wait in between book releases to build interest and momentum.

“Good,” Erwin nodded, glancing back down at his checklist. He was a very organized agent, very quick and to the point. It was definitely one of the qualities that Levi had been looking for when he’d gone in search of an agent for his books over a year ago. “He’ll have edits made and back to you within the month, hopefully. Projected release date was next spring, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Well, in the meantime, have you thought about making any social media accounts to keep your readers in the loop?”

“I told you that I refuse to do that,” he scoffed. “They can check the publishing house’s Twitter or Facebook or whatever if they really want to know.”

“We could always have Hanji run them for you,” Erwin suggested. Hanji was his personal assistant, hired to do things like make sure Levi was on time to all of his appointments, get him tea, shit like that. _Only_ shit like that.

“No. I wouldn’t let them touch anything under my name with a twenty foot pole.”

“Awh, Levi,” Hanji whined from their seat in the corner. “Come on, please?”

“No,” he repeated. “Is that all for this meeting, Erwin?”

“I suppose,” Erwin frowned. “Just don’t forget the signing; it’s good publicity. And think about the movie thing. There’s a new entertainment group knocking on our door everyday asking about the film rights.”

"Didn’t I already tell you that I would rather not see the Attack on Titan Trilogy brought to life?”

"You did, but I was hoping that you would still consider it and maybe change your mind?” Erwin said hopefully.

“Not going to happen, Eyebrows,” Levi replied, standing up from his chair. “See you next time.”

Hanji followed him out, the coat that he’d left on the back of the chair in Erwin’s office hanging over his arm. “Just curious, but-“

“Don’t ask, Shitty-glasses,” Levi muttered. “I just want to go back to my apartment and sleep.” He also didn’t want to try and explain why he was so against a film adaptation of his books. Hanji wouldn’t understand; none of them did.

That was because even Levi himself didn’t understand it. He had theories, sure, but no way of knowing if either was correct.

The first theory (and the most plausible) was that the storyline that played out in his dreams every night and his occasional visions was simply something made up by his subconscious to deal with real-world troubles. He’d been through some shit in his life and these dreams had started after all of it. It made sense. This theory had been suggested by the one and only psychiatrist that he had ever gone to see. He’d only attended one session so he didn’t know the details or anything, but hey, it was a theory.

The second theory (and this was one that Hanji had come up with) was that they were memories of a past life. He’d gotten drunk one night and told her all about how he’d come up with the plot for his trilogy. Levi didn’t normally drink, but after _The Walls_ hit the New York Times Bestsellers List, Hanji had dragged him out for celebratory drinks. All he remembered was waking up underneath his coffee table. The next morning, Hanji told him their theory on his dreams.

Levi told them that they were crazy, that it wasn’t possible, but he kept the possibility tucked away in the back of his mind for one single reason.

The subconscious theory didn’t account for the people, the faces. He could see them all so clearly, and some of them were people that he _knew_. He’d chosen Erwin as his agent because of the fact that he _knew_ him. Mike and Hanji as well. There’s no way that he could explain that away as coincidence.

Maybe he didn’t want to because if it was all real, then _he_ was real, too.

But those were thoughts for another time.

“We’re here, Levi,” Hanji announced, snapping him away from his thoughts. Low and behold, they were right. He looked out the window up at his apartment building and sighed.

“See you, Shitty-glasses.”

“I’ll be by tomorrow to pick up the manuscript file!” Hanji reminded him.

“Joy,” he muttered as he threw the door open.

He pulled his keys out of his pocket as the doorman opened the door to his apartment building. Levi nodded his thanks in the man’s direction and made his way to the elevator.

He’d told Hanji that he just wanted to sleep, which was true. He used to rarely sleep. Instead, he wrote. That’s how he’d gotten the trilogy done so quickly. Afterwards, with nothing left to write, he’d begun knocking himself out with sleeping pills.

Which is why he grabbed a glass of water from his kitchen, the bottle of pills from his nightstand and knocked one back.

They were usually enough to keep the dreams away.


	4. Chapter 4

“I’m so nervous, Armin,” Eren confessed. They were near the end of the line with a couple hundred people in front of them and only a handful of stragglers behind them. Garrison Books was a fairly small store so the line stretched out onto the street. They hadn’t even gotten a glimpse of the author that they’d driven there to see yet.

“Don’t be! You’re just here to meet him and maybe ask him a few questions. I think it’ll go well. Maybe he’ll be as surprised to meet you as you where when you read his book?”

“Maybe,” Eren mused.

The line started moving about five minutes later. Luckily, it felt like it was going pretty fast. It was probably just thanks to Armin talking to him and keeping him occupied, though. Before Eren knew it they were inside the doors. From there, the line went straight forward until it reached the table that Eren assumed L. Ackerman was sitting at. He couldn’t see over the line of people in front of him, though, and he really didn’t want to be creepy and step out of line to see the author. So instead he waited as patiently as he could while the line slowly got shorter and shorter.

He spent his final few minutes waiting trying to figure out what he was going to say to the man. He had so many questions, but he needed to start out with the few that were the most important. Would Eren tell him about his dreams? His art? Or would he begin by asking the man where he’d gotten the idea for the storyline? Would he-

His thoughts stopped abruptly as the person in front of them in line stepped up to the table, giving him a peak at the side of the man’s head. Did he have the same undercut as his Captain? The author’s hair was inky black and looked incredibly soft, just like-

“Name?” The man behind the table said.

Eren knew that voice.

Armin must’ve seen him tense up. “Eren, are you okay?” His friend asked from behind him, but Eren’s focus was entirely on the man revealed in front of him when the person in front of them in line stepped out of the way.                   

When the man seated behind the table looked up at him, Eren felt like he couldn’t breathe. His silvery-blue eyes widened as they scanned Eren’s face, lips parting in surprise.

There was no doubt in Eren’s mind; it was him.

This man had the same sharp nose, the same delicate cheekbones, the same chiseled jawline, and the same silky hair and intriguing cut as his Captain. Everything about him was so familiar that it made Eren’s heart hurt. Suddenly everything that he had been thinking about saying and asking the author flew right out of his head.

“H-hi,” Eren stuttered as he stepped up to the table and placed his book down. “I… I really liked your b-book.” Fuck. He really couldn’t hold himself together, could he?

“Thanks, kid,” the author said, sliding Eren’s copy of _The Walls_ across the table and flipping it open to the title page. “What’s your name?”

“My name?”

“For the signature,” he explained. “Unless you don’t want it personalized?”

“Oh, uh...” Eren thought for a moment. “M-Marco.”

“Sure.” Mr. Ackerman frowned, but took his pen and autographed the book anyways.

Eren’s eyes were glued to the man’s face as he did so. It was him. It was _him_! His mind was spinning. There was so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to ask, but he couldn’t find the words.

Before he knew it, the man’s gaze was on him again as he pushed the book back across the table. “Here you go.”

“Thank you,” Eren replied, his voice quiet, forcing himself to look away from Mr. Ackerman’s piercing gaze.

He walked away from the table quickly and towards the front of the store to wait for Armin. His heart rate was beginning to accelerate. He felt almost out of breath. What was going on? His racing thoughts felt suffocating.

“Eren? You okay?” Armin was there a moment later.

“I’m fine,” he replied. “Thank you for coming with me.”

“Okay. Do you want to wait around and see if you can talk to him?”

He shook his head. “No, I’m okay. We can go.”

“Alright. I’m going to run to the bathroom real quick and then we’ll head home,” Armin said before heading towards the back of the store.

Eren held the book to his chest and leaned against one of the big store-front windows. He needed to get a handle on himself before Armin came back. Surely Armin noticed that Mr. Ackerman looked just like the man in his latest painting…

His thoughts were interrupted when someone bounced up to his side. He looked over to find a tall woman with glasses and brown hair pulled back into a messy ponytail. She was looking at him intently with a bright smile on her face.

“Uh, hello?”

“Hello! Nice to meet you. I’m Hanji,” they explained. “They/them pronouns, please. I’m Levi’s assistant.”

“Ah, okay,” Eren nodded, taking note of the pronoun request before registering the rest of what they had said. “Wait, Levi?” That name seemed to click in his head. That was it, wasn’t it? His Captain’s name. Captain Levi.

“Oh, sorry. Levi Ackerman,” they grinned. “Sometimes I forget that he doesn’t have his first name on anything. I wonder why that is? I’ve never really asked-“

“Hey! Eren! Are you ready to go?” Armin asked as he returned to Eren’s side.

“So your name is Eren, huh?” Hanji said. “You know, that’s weird. You look exactly like the Eren from Levi’s book. Well, the Eren that _I_ envision when I read it, anyways. Do you spell your name the same way? What’s your last name?”

“J-Jaeger,” Eren replied.

“That’s so interesting! I bet Levi thought so, too. Did he say anything to you? He looked really pale. I mean, Levi is pale anyways, but he looked even paler-“

“Uh,” Armin began, sensing Eren’s discomfort. “We have about an hour to drive back home-“

“You! Little mushroom! You’re exactly what I pictured Armin to look like-“

“My name _is_ Armin.”

“Oh my! What a coincidence! We _have_ to go talk to Levi!” Hanji exclaimed, grabbing Eren’s wrist and practically dragging him over to the table where Levi was signing the last person in line’s book. A heartbeat later, Levi was sliding their book back across the table and thanking them for coming. Eren watched as he put the cap back on his pen and sighed, glancing around the room before he realized that the three of them were standing there.

“Oi. What are you doing?”

“Levi! You’ll never guess who I found!” Hanji grinned, finally releasing their grip on Eren’s wrist.

“Four-eyes, you can’t just go dragging people around like that,” Levi sighed. “I signed their books already.”

“Levi! They look exactly like the characters from your book! And their names are even the same, isn’t that strange? And cool?”

Levi’s eyes went straight to Eren, who immediately blushed and looked towards Armin. “Yeah, it is strange,” he said softly.

“Well, it was really nice to meet you,” Armin began, coming to Eren’s rescue. “But we’ve really got to head back home.”

“Awh!” Hanji whined. “But I wanted to tell you guys about my theory!”

“That’s enough,” Levi scolded them. “Thank you for coming out.”

Armin nodded and smiled before taking hold of Eren’s arm and leading him out of the store. It wasn’t until the cool air hit Eren’s face that he felt himself relaxing.

“So,” Armin began as they walked down the sidewalk to the parking garage that they had parked in. “Levi Ackerman looked just like-“

 “The guy in my painting. I know,” Eren finished.

“Have you met him before, Eren?”

Eren shook his head. “Nope.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Eren knew that Armin was thinking a lot about the whole thing, but that’s what he loved about Armin. Armin didn’t pry. He seemed to sense that Eren didn’t really want to talk about the author so he didn’t bring it up again. Instead, when they reached the car and made their way out of New York City, Armin got Eren talking about the videogame that he was currently working his way through.

It wasn’t until they were almost back to the university area that Eren opened his book and looked at Levi’s signature. It was a good thing, too, because if he had seen it while he was still at the signing he would have broken down.

Levi had signed it “ _To Eren_ ”.

Eren shut the book quickly and tried to keep his composure until they got home.

When they got back to their apartment just off of campus, Eren retired to his room pretty early for the night. For once in his life, he just wanted to sleep. Would his Captain wear Levi Ackerman’s face?

When he woke up the next morning, he got his answer.


	5. Chapter 5

“So…” Hanji began. They were in the car on the way back to Levi’s apartment after the signing. It’d been a relatively quiet trip, but he had known that it wouldn’t be long before Hanji brought up the two kids from earlier.

“I know you have something to say. Just spit it out.”

“Those boys, Levi! They looked the same, had the exact same names… you know what this means, right? Erwin and Mike might have passed off their appearance in the book as coincidence or changes made after you met them, but I know better. You know I had my theory before, and this all but confirms it!”

“They could’ve been lying,” Levi says but he doesn’t really mean it. Hell, he’d signed the kid’s book to ‘Eren’. He knew that was the boy’s real name. He and Hanji were on the same page, believe it or not. Levi just didn’t want to admit it.

“You know as well as I do that they weren’t lying,” they replied. “I wonder if either of them remember anything about this past life since the rest of us don’t.”

Levi thought back to the look of surprise on Eren’s face as he’d stepped up to the table. It wasn’t a lot to go off of, but just maybe… “Who knows?”

“Well, Eren looked like he had seen a ghost,” Hanji grinned. “Wouldn’t it be convenient if he was the one who remembered?”

“Convenient how, Shitty-glasses?”

“Don’t play dumb, Levi. It doesn’t suit you,” they scoffed.

“Whatever,” Levi frowned. He suspected that he knew what they were hinting at. While he couldn’t remember exactly what he had told Hanji that one night he’d been drunk, he doubted he would leave _him_ out. “If you’re so interested, why don’t you find out more about them?”

“Is that an order? Because I would love to!”

“Sure. Go nuts.”

It didn’t matter what Hanji did; Levi was probably never going to see Eren again. That was good. Eren should stay as far away from Levi as possible. History often repeats itself, and Levi didn’t think that he could go through it again.

Levi expected Hanji to tell him some random facts about the two kids from the signing, but he certainly didn’t expect them to try and get him to see them again. Somehow Hanji always seemed to defy his expectations of them.

Basically, a few days after the signing, Hanji was going to come over to pick him up for a meeting with Mike, his editor, about the second draft of _The Weak_.

“GUESS WHAT!” Hanji screeched as they threw his apartment door open. Its knob hit the wall with a dull thud, causing Levi to cringe.

“What the fuck, Shitty-glasses?”

“I found out that Eren Jaeger is going to have a piece featured in Rose University’s Art Expo this Friday! He’s an art major there. Funny story, actually. Did you know that one of his professors is named Shadis? Coincidence? I think not!”

“So?” Levi groaned.

“Duh, Levi! We’re going!”

“I don’t want to.”

“But Levi!” Hanji whined. “After I went to all this trouble to find out more about the kid for you, you want to back out?”

“I was just curious, that’s all! I don’t want to stalk him.”

“We’re going to this art show whether I have to drag your ass there or not! I’ve already cleared your schedule.” Hanji proclaimed. “Levi, you can’t let this opportunity slip by you. If Eren remembers, it would be a good thing, right? Call it fate, destiny, whatever. You can’t run from this.”

_I can and I fucking will_ , Levi thought. He didn’t bothering answering Hanji; it would just result in the same old back and forth. Levi would insist that he didn’t want to go. Hanji would say that they wanted him to go. Levi would repeat that he didn’t want to go. Hanji would argue that they were going to get him there somehow because he couldn’t miss this opportunity. It would carry on until they arrived at their destination. So instead of trying to argue with Hanji, he just shook his head and stared out the window.

He admitted to himself that he was curious about the brat’s art. Would his pieces be of white, sandy beaches and ocean landscapes? His dreams or memories or whatever they were told him that Eren had always wanted to see this ocean.

They pulled up to the publishing house and headed up to the tenth floor. They were early, but Levi always insisted on scheduling things in his planner for earlier times than they actually were because he absolutely refused to be late to anything. Luckily, Mike knew this already, so they weren’t kept waiting.

“Mr. Ackerman! Nice to see you again,” Mike smiled, ushering for Levi to take a seat. He was a nice guy. A little odd with a weird habit of sniffing people, but nice. The first time that he’d leaned down and taken a whiff of Levi, though, he hadn’t been as freaked out as he should have been. Everything was explained in his dreams, however, when they informed him that smelling was Mike’s thing.

"Yeah, yeah,” Levi sighed. “So, I assume you’ve read over the draft?”

“Yes. It was great, but I’m not surprised. The ending was heart wrenching. I’m very curious to see how you’re going to end it.”

“The ending wrote itself,” he replied. “You’ll see it eventually. Any revisions?”

Mike nodded, pulling the manuscript out of one of the drawers of his desk and setting it down on the table. “I’ve marked everything in green. It’s really just a lot of tiny grammar errors, not so much plot-related. I know I’ve asked you this before, but will there be any romance elements in this story? That’s something that does really well in the market, especially when paired with the action and adventure. It really works to balance out the morbid aspects if you give the readers a hint of something hopeful.”

“No,” Levi frowned. They’d had this conversation before. “There’s no main couple in this story.”

“Hannah lost Franz. There was a hint of something between Jean and Marco, and then we lost Marco. Petra and Oluo were hinted but they’re both gone as well. You can see where I’m going with this, right?”

“Yes. But I’m not going to change it.”

“You know, I bet pairing Eren up with Mikasa would test really well-“

“No!” Levi exclaimed. “No. That’s not happening. Eren doesn’t see her that way; they’re siblings, nothing more.”

“Okay, okay. I was just making a suggestion,” Mike said calmly.

“I know, I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s weird how attached you get to characters…”

“I understand,” Mike smiled. “Trust me, you aren’t the first author to talk of your characters as if they actually exist.”

“Yeah,” Levi sighed. "I'm sure you're right."

He only heard about half of the rest of what Mike had to discuss with him. His mind was elsewhere. More specifically, his mind was a hundred miles away, in an art building on the west side of Rose University’s campus.


	6. Chapter 6

Eren stared down at the sketchbook on his desk, open to his newest sketch. Well, if you could even call it a sketch. He’d spent so long worrying over miniscule detail that he deemed it appropriate to call the work a fine drawing, perhaps part of a study.

And what was this new drawing of? Only the same subject that he’d been drawing and sketching and painting for a week straight. He’d actually filled up nearly half of a sketchbook since the book signing, and almost every single page was filled with images of Levi. Now that he knew his face, his dreams were supplying him with even more material. He knew the man’s face well enough that he could doodle it in the margins of his notes, perhaps sketch his profile on the back of a handout. But his sketchbook was filled with _everything_ : Levi with a furrowed brow, Levi running a hand through his hair, Levi flustered with his eyes downcast and a faint blush across his cheeks. There were unfinished sketches of muscled torsos and strong arms that belonged to the man, too. Hell, he’d even sketched a full-body nude of him. Okay, maybe more than one.

And while Eren couldn’t get his Captain out of his head, he had absolutely no idea when he would see him again. Levi Ackerman was a New York Times Bestselling author and obviously a very private man.

Eren sighed. It’s not like he had time to be worrying about his next chance to see the man; there were plenty of other things he needed to think about. For example, who did he know that could properly assemble the deep green tie hanging around his neck for tonight? The Spring Art Expo was due to start in two hours and they had dinner reservations before then.

He had gotten up early that morning to stop by the gallery space and make sure everything was perfect. Honestly, the space was more than anything Eren could have ever imagined: perfect lighting, crisp white walls, and sparkling dark wood floors. His painting had an entire wall to itself. It was still impossible to wrap his head around the fact that he had been given the opportunity to create a piece for the show. And it had actually turned out well! Eren suspected that this was probably the best painting he’d ever done technically. He’d really been improving on technique over the past year, and it pleased him that it showed.

Now all that was left to do was finish getting ready and head over to the gallery for the show. The gallery, simply named “Dot”, was owned by a man named Dot Pixis, a alumni of Rose University and best friend of Professor Shadis. It was in a very nice area of town and frequented by art collectors, so it was a great opportunity to have a piece featured there. Maybe Eren would receive an offer or two on his painting? He wasn’t getting his hopes up and or even sure that he wanted to sell the piece in the first place, but the thought did excite him.

After a few more minutes lost in thought, Eren decided to go and find Armin to help him with his tie.

 With one last look at his open sketchbook, Eren went in search of Armin to help him with his tie and leave for dinner. He’d have to think about Levi later.

 

*******

 

“I can’t believe you actually dragged me here,” Levi muttered as the two walked towards the entrance of Dot, a gallery that just so happened to be owned and named after Dot Pixis, Commander of the Garrison division of the military in _The Walls_. This small world just kept getting smaller.

Hanji had actually showed up at his apartment door about an hour before they were due to leave and practically forced him into the black suit he was currently wearing. The car ride to the town of Maria, Connecticut with Hanji had been spent mostly in silence. Of course, that was no fault of Hanji’s; if they had their way, they would’ve spent the entire drive discussing their theories and thoughts on Levi’s book. Levi had made it very clear early on in the drive, however, that he would have none of that tonight and spent the entire drive staring stubbornly out the window.

The gallery was packed, despite it being a very large space. There was a large lobby area where many sculptural pieces were set up on pedestals. Then, a maze of clean white walls started, each one covered in a mixture of paintings, drawings and photos.

“Wow,” Hanji said. “This a lot bigger than I expected! I wonder where Eren’s piece is?”

“I would’ve expected you to know already, Shitty-glasses.”

“Very funny, Short-stack. Come on! Maybe we’ll run into the little cutie when we find it,” Hanji grinned, tugging Levi along.

He had to admit that he was surprisingly impressed by a lot of the work he was seeing as they walked through the gallery. Believe it or not, Levi had a very strong appreciation for art. He had attended a few gallery shows before with Erwin, who despite being his agent was also his friend. He had never actually purchased a piece from any of those shows. Despite his recent wealth from the incredible sales of The Wall as well as his contract with his publishing house, Levi wasn’t one to spend money on things he didn’t deem necessary.

“What kind of art do you think Eren does?” Hanji asked him as they walked among the crowd of people, pausing every so often to get a closer look at a piece that caught their attention.

Levi shrugged, glancing around nervously. He hadn’t seen the brat yet, but he wasn’t sure that he wanted to. “I don’t know. The Eren in my head isn’t artistic at all.”

“Don’t you mean ‘wasn’t’?” Hanji suggested, wiggling their eyebrows.

“Stop it, Four-eyes. Let’s just look around a bit more so we can leave.”

“Levi, I did not drive us over here to not see Eren tonight,” they argued. “So, see anyone from your dreams yet?”

“No, but I’ll admit that I haven’t been looking,” Levi sighed, moving to look at the next piece. It was a pretty still life of an ornate flower arrangement. Not exactly Levi’s taste, but very pretty nonetheless.

“Levi,” Hanji whispered, tugging on his sleeve.

“What do you want now?”

“I think I found Eren’s piece.”

Levi turned around too quickly, probably betraying his interest in the subject he had been to adamant to avoid, but when his eyes landed on the piece that Hanji was pointing at, he found himself so stunned that he didn’t care.

The painting hung alone on a wall about twenty feet away from where the pair stood, but it was so large that Levi could make out the scene from there. As he took it in, he found his feet moving him forward until he stood in front of it.

He didn’t have to look at the plaque beside the piece to know that Eren Jaeger had created the painting.

What struck him first was content, obviously. He found himself looking at a back that undoubtedly belonged to Levi himself. He and the viewer were looking out over the fallen town of Shiganshina, towards the large figure of the Colossal Titan that stood in the middle of the ruined buildings. Levi recognized this scene; he’d written about it. It had occurred during the mission to discover what secrets hid in the basement of Eren’s old home in Shiganshina.

The second thing he noticed about the painting was how incredible it was. The attention that Eren had paid to every single detail absolutely astounded him. Levi could make out every hair on his head, every strand of exposed muscle on the body of the Colossal titan, every roof of one of the abandoned buildings below. He couldn’t even imagine how much time Eren had spent agonizing over every single one of those little details.

“Four-eyes,” Levi said after a few minutes of silence, knowing that Hanji was probably standing right behind him.

“Yeah?”

“Buy this painting,” he instructed in a hushed tone, not even bothering to turn away from the masterpiece in front of him as he dug his wallet out of his pocket and thrust it at Hanji. “Put an offer on it. Anonymously. I don’t care how much. There’s a blank check in the cash pocket.”

“Yes, sir!”

With that, he was left alone with nothing but the painting and his thoughts. Well, not completely alone. Eren’s piece had drawn quite the crowd of admirers.

Levi’s head was spinning. This painting was so much more than a beautiful work of art; it was an indication. It told him that his dreams weren’t just dreams, they were memories of a past life. One that Eren and many of the people in his life had shared with him, but only one other seemed to remember. Hanji had been right. There was no other logical explanation that Levi could come up with, as illogical as it may seem.

Why did Eren have to be the one to paint this? Why him of all people? How much did he remember? How much had he seen? How was Levi supposed to approach the situation? Was there any way that Levi could avoid admitting to anything? Could he pretend that his books, his story, were just that? A story he made up?

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to be the guy in this painting, would you?” A voice said asked from his left, drawing him away from his panicked thoughts. He turned to find a tall, kind-looking boy with dark hair and freckles smiling down at him. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities. I’m Marco.”

Levi looked down at the hand the boy had offered him critically for a moment before he shook it. The kid seemed to take care of himself well enough to not have grubby, germy hands. “Levi,” he responded. “I only met the brat about a week ago, so I couldn’t say.”

“Oh, I see,” Marco smiled, turning his attention back towards the piece on the wall. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Levi agreed. “Absolutely stunning.”

“Marco? There you are! Horse-face has been looking for you.”

Oh, fuck. Levi knew that voice.

“Sorry, Eren. I just had to come sneak another peak at it. I’ll go find him now.”

Levi prayed that Eren hadn’t seen him, but a few moments after Marco had left his side, a new presence had filled the empty space he had left behind. “Levi? What are you doing here?”

Oh, shit.


	7. Chapter 7

“Levi? What are you doing here?” Eren asked, stepping up to Levi. Was he imaging this? What was Levi Ackerman doing at Rose University’s Art Expo, standing in front of his painting of the man, no less?

“Hanji,” Levi replied, shrugging casually.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Eren laughed. Of course Hanji had dragged him there. He would’ve never come on his own, right? “Are you enjoying the show so far?”

Levi nodded. “I have to say, I’m impressed,” he said, gesturing to Eren’s painting in front of them.

There was nothing Eren could do about how red he was sure his face was; it felt like it was on fire. “Thanks. It took me a pretty long time, but I’m happy with the finished product.”

“As you should be.”

Eren looked down at his feet, trying to figure out how to approach a subject the subject of Levi’s books. What else would Levi think? “I… I want you to know that I started it long before I read your book.”

“I know,” Levi said, looking over at him, face unreadable. “I never assumed otherwise.”

“I wanted to tell you at the signing,” Eren confessed, nervously running his fingers through his hair. “But I, uh, got a little distracted.”

“It’s fine, brat,” Levi replied.

“So, you have them, too?” Eren asked him hesitantly after a beat of silence. What else could he do in this situation except be completely honest?

“Have what?”

“The dreams. Of these creatures? Of this world?” Eren gestured to the painting. “I’ve been having them since before I can remember. Your book, it’s exactly like them.”

Levi stared at him for a moment before turning away, back towards the painting. Eren couldn’t tell what he was thinking. The man’s brows were drawn together, lips in a thin line. Was he angry? Was he sensitive about it? Was-

“No.”

“What?” Eren asked. He was so caught up in observing Levi’s profile that he had completely forgotten about his question.

“No. I don’t have those dreams.”

“Oh.” Eren said quietly as he felt his face fall.                             

A silence enveloped them. Sure, there were people milling about around them, but neither of them was paying much attention. Eren stuffed his hands in his pockets awkwardly and followed Levi’s line of site to the painting.

If Levi didn’t have the dreams, then how did he come up with the plot of his book? Did he know someone that had them and relayed them to him? There’s no way the same story that took place in Eren’s dreams just popped into this man’s head one day. A man that just happened to look exactly like his Captain.

Hanji was the one to interrupt the silence. They suddenly appeared at Levi’s side and slapped a hand on his shoulder. “Mission accomplished, boss.”

“Thanks, Four-eyes,” Levi murmured in response. Eren wasn’t exactly sure what they were talking about, but Hanji address him before he had the chance to ask.

“Eren! How are you? Lovely show tonight. Your painting is absolutely gorgeous! You certainly drew Shorty here in a very flattering light. You’d never know how short he really is looking at it. I mean, sure, he’s on top of a giant ass wall-“

“Shut it, Shitty-glasses,” Levi grimaced.

“Oh, hush, Levi. Take it as a compliment,” Hanji grinned, focusing again on Eren.

“Oh, um, thank you, Hanji,” Eren said, fidgeting slightly. “It’s actually a portrait of someone from a dream.”

“You don’t say,” Hanji replied, their grin growing even wider. Their voice had a knowing tone to it but they left it at that. “Hey, I was planning on dragging the boss-man here out for a drink or two later, would you like to join us?”

Eren’s gaze flickered to meet Levi’s for a moment. The man’s face was an emotionless mask, but he knew his Captain better than that. The man in front of him was putting up a front of indifference but the truth was obvious in his eyes. Levi was nervous.

The whole gang had mentioned going out for drinks after the show: Marco, Jean, Mikasa, Armin, Sasha and Connie. But Eren didn’t want to say goodbye to the author after he’d finally gotten the chance to see him again.

“I would love to, Hanji. My friends and I were actually going to hit up the New York City bar scene afterwards to celebrate. I know it’s a bit far away, but I would love it if you guys came with us?”

Levi opened his mouth to respond but Hanji was too quick for him. Eren could have sworn he saw them elbow Levi in the side, but he couldn’t be sure.

“Yes! We would absolutely love to. We live there, anyways.”

“Isn’t it a bit far just for a celebratory bar trip?” Levi asked.

“Yeah, but it’s a special occasion. We booked hotel rooms and everything. We planned on visiting the MoMA and doing a little shopping tomorrow, too. My parents couldn’t make it tonight so it’s kind of their treat,” Eren shrugged. His relationship with his parents was somewhat complicated. His father was a doctor in Rhode Island and, due to Eren’s experience with nightmares and therapy when he was younger, there was a certain tension between him and his dad. Grisha Jaeger had decided long ago that there must be something wrong with Eren, and as a result, both he and Carla Jaeger did nothing but walk on eggshells around him or insist on more therapy no matter how okay Eren tried to tell them he was.

“Perfect! Here, give me your number and I’ll text you so you have mine. Then I’ll recommend some places or make sure we meet you wherever you end up!” Hanji beamed, fishing their phone out of the back pocket of their slacks.

“Okay,” Eren nodded, tapping away at the phone’s screen and handing it back to them. “Just let me know! The gallery closes soon so we should be on our way within the hour.”

“Eren!” He turned to see Keith Shadis making his way through the crowd.

“Excuse me for a moment,” he told Levi and Hanji. “That’s my professor.”

“Oh, no worries,” Hanji grinned, throwing an arm around Levi’s shoulder and starting to pull him down the hall. “We’re going to go and take a look at the rest of the show. Just text me when you leave!”

“I will!” Eren called after them with a smile on his face. He was definitely looking forward to the opportunity to spend more time with Levi.

“Eren, can I have a word?” Shadis asked when he reached him.

“Of course. What’s up?”

“I just wanted to let you know that you’ve had some offers on your painting,” he grinned, pulling a few folded papers from the inside of his jacket. “Would you like to hear them, or is this piece not up for sale?”

“I…” Truth be told, he hadn’t even considered it. He didn’t even know if anyone would be interested in it enough to buy it. It was certainly…interesting subject matter. “I’d like to hear them.”

“There are currently three. Pixis has offered fifteen hundred to add the piece to his private, permanent collection here at the gallery. There was another offer from a buyer that owns a gallery in New Jersey for two thousand. The last one, however, was for five thousand from an anonymous bidder. Well, their initial offer was five thousand, but they gave me a blank check and told me to ask you how much you wanted for it. They seemed pretty insistent.”

Eren blinked. “Are you serious?” That was unbelievable! Five thousand dollars would pay for so many canvases, paints and other supplies.

“One hundred percent. So, are you interested in accepting any of them?”

“I’d be pretty stupid to pass up five thousand dollars, wouldn’t I?”

Shadis chuckled. “For selling your first piece? I think it’s an outstanding price.”

“I can’t believe that anyone would want it bad enough to give you a blank check,” Eren breathed.

“Congratulations, Eren. Are you accepting the offer?”

“I guess I am.”

“Here,” Shadis said, handing him one of the papers and a pen. “Just sign this right here and I’ll take care of the rest. Don’t worry, your piece will stay up in the gallery show until a new show is installed in a few days and then the piece will be sent to it’s new home.”

“This feels so surreal,” Eren smiled. “Thank you, Shadis.”

“This was all you, Eren,” Shadis replied. “Well, I have to go find a few others to let them know of offers. See you in class on Monday!”

Eren took a deep breath as his gaze slid back towards his painting on the wall. He honestly couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he had just sold his first piece ever for five thousand dollars. There was also the fact that Hanji and Levi had come to his show and were going to join him and his friends for drinks afterwards! That was going to be the perfect chance to learn more about Levi. His story had to come from somewhere. Even if it wasn’t the same as the dreams Eren had, he was determined to figure it out.

His phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out to see an enthusiastic text from an unknown number, presumably Hanji, and added the number to his phone. Once his reply was sent, he decided it was time to go in search of his friends.

New York was waiting.


End file.
